The World Food Crisis
John Nichols. The Nation. April 25, 2008 The only surprising thing about the global food crisis to Jim Goodman is the notion that anyone finds it surprising. “So,” says the Wisconsin dairy farmer, “they finally figured out, after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified [GM] seeds, that instead of feeding the world […]
The Democrats ‘Free Trade’ Divide
Mark Engler. Foreign Policy in Focus. April 24, 2008 “Free trade” has produced some of the most contentious political debates of our times. In a famous April 2000 article in the New Republic, economist Joseph Stiglitz argued, “Economic policy is today perhaps the most important part of America’s interaction with the rest of the world. […]
12 Reasons to Get Out of Iraq
By Tom Engelhardt. TomDispatch. April 20, 2008 Can there be any question that, since the invasion of 2003, Iraq has been unraveling? And here’s the curious thing: Despite a lack of decent information and analysis on crucial aspects of the Iraqi catastrophe, despite the way much of the Iraq story fell off newspaper front pages […]
Memo to the Clinton Campaign: They Are Still Murdering Labor Unionists in Colombia
By DAVID MACARAY, CounterPunch, 22 April, 2008 Even though the Colombian government argues that the level of violence has, in fact, declined, there have been more than 2,500 union members murdered in Colombia since 1985. More than 400 have been killed since 2002, when conservative president Alvaro Uribe took office, and 19 union members and […]
The End of the World as You Know It… and the Rise of the New Energy World Order
By Michael T. Klare. TomDispatch. April 15, 2008 Oil at $110 a barrel. Gasoline at $3.35 (or more) per gallon. Diesel fuel at $4 per gallon. Independent truckers forced off the road. Home heating oil rising to unconscionable price levels. Jet fuel so expensive that three low-cost airlines stopped flying in the past few weeks. […]
RIDING THE TIGER: MUQTADA AL-SADR AND THE AMERICAN DILEMMA IN IRAQ
By Patrick Cockburn. TomDispatch. April 08, 2008 Muqtada al-Sadr is the most important and surprising figure to emerge in Iraq since the U.S. invasion. He is the Messianic leader of the religious and political movement of the impoverished Shia underclass whose lives were ruined by a quarter of a century of war, repression, and sanctions. […]
General Entrap-Us or General Entrapped?
By Ira Chernus, TomDispatch, April 06, 2008 It was supposed to be a “cakewalk.” General Petraeus would come to Congress, armed with his favorite charts showing that the “surge” had dramatically reduced violence in Iraq. He would earn universal acclaim for his plan to “pause” troop reductions from July until after the election in November […]
We Own The World
Noam Chomsky. Z Magazine. January, 01 2008. You all know, of course, there was an election—what is called “an election” in the United States—last November. There was really one issue in the election, what to do about U.S. forces in Iraq and there was, by U.S. standards, an overwhelming vote calling for a withdrawal of […]
American Grand Delusions: Why the Testimony of General Petraeus Will Be Delusional
By Tom Engelhardt. TomDispatch,com. April 03, 2008 Yes, their defensive zone is the planet and they patrol it regularly. As ever, their planes and drones have been in the skies these last weeks. They struck a village in Somalia, tribal areas in Pakistan, rural areas in Afghanistan, and urban neighborhoods in Iraq. Their troops are […]
Empire or Humanity?
By Howard Zinn. Tomdispatch. April 01, 2008 With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace […]